Chris B has said over and over that Whit is NOT on
the hot seat! Can he be wrong? He's usually right about everything.According to this article Whit is up against the wall, but I thought Utah was
NOT the doormat of the PAC 10?

First option is impossible - Utah can't schedule 6 games with BYU in a
season.

Second option is impossible - Schedule as difficult season as
BYU does. (As a member of the second rated conference in the country we must
play 9 games and with 6 teams ranked in the top 25 preseason poll we must play
multiple games against top 25 teams.)

Third option is how we are
going to do it - regain the "swagger"! In my opinion this years team is
deepper in depth than ever before. With many positions stronger than last year.
And last year was ever so close. (I know - woulda, coulda, shouda!)

Regardless of whether you are a believer or doubter my advice to you is bet on
Utah to cover the spread!

A losing record should not be the only determining factor in firing, or
retaining, whittingham in my opinion. If it is another 5-7 year for instance,
but the losses are mostly close could have gone either way types, and the team
itself was very competitive I think he will, and should, be retained.

If it is 4 wins or less it will be pretty hard to justify keeping him on,
especially if they are blown out in more than a couple of games, and those
blowout losses need to be to oregon, stanford, usc, or ucla, no one else.

But he should be worried, the schedule is tough, just as utah
"fans" are constantly whining about, and he must beat fresno which in my
opinion is not the cake walk utah "fans" seem to think it is. Slapping a
pac12 next to their name doesn't all of a sudden make utah any better than
they ever were, in fact fresno is a team I think is on par with utah far more
than utah is on par with the oregon, ucla, stanford, and usc's of the
world.

(Yawn) Another DN article projecting the demise of the U and Coach
Whitt.....

Could just as easily say this particular author could be
retired in St George before Coach Whitt gets there, & who's to say that
would not be the case? Haven't played a down yet, haven't had a
second tick off the clock, but the Utes are somehow already at 4th and 20 and
its time to "save Whittingham".

Au contraire, the U (and
Coach Whitt) are just fine, just had a nice infusion of new talent for this
season, now looking forward to kicking things off with an improved roster, new
coaching in several key areas, and the best brain trust in the state --- Whitt,
Sitake, Erickson, and Christensen.

So give us the names and dates of all the other articles the
Dnews has published about the demise of whittingham and utah? I read just about
every day and I don't remember very many of them, if any at all.

I'd also like to know why you think some motley assortment of walkons and
late signees no one else seemed to want is some huge "infusion of new
talent"? If they were all that great wouldn't they have already been
signed by someone? For that matter why didn't utah sign them in the first
place back on signing day? You have easily established yourself as one of the
more delusional utah "fans" that posts on these boards.

I think the break in not playing each other will be good for both utah and byu.
Byu can take a break from the pressure of not living up to expectations when
playing utah (lost 9 of 12, favored in 10 of the games). Utah cannot put their
eggs in one basket and focus on playing well in a game other than Byu (with few
exceptions).

While I didn't really understand the context of your
comment about STG, maybe I could help clarify the meaning behind this article.
CFB has a "what have you done for me lately" mentality. BYU and now USU
have created a brand of winning on the national stage as well as participating
in bowl games around the country (USU will be going for their 4th consecutive
bowl appearance while BYU is shooting for their 10th). One has to think that if
the head coach wasn't getting it "done" and posting enough wins (6)
in order to participate in a postseason bowl then they would for surely be
canned (ask Crowton).

I guess what the author is implying is that if
the U is a step above all other programs in the state, why have they retained
their head coach who hasn't been to a bowl game since 2011?

Now
I know what you're thinking, "well he had to handle the transition of
entering the Pac10" that's great and all but why not let him step down,
and bring in a coach who can win on the big stage regularly.

I really can't wait for the season to start. At the very least, fans of the
3 big teams in Utah will have something else to speculate on. byu will have a
good season because they are a weak team playing against even weaker
competition. Utah State will likely have a good season in their relatively new
conference. If Utah has a good season, it will be because they triumphed when
the team's soul was tested week in and week out. Character in the face of a
true and consistent challenge is more intriguing to me, which makes only one of
the teams in Utah truly worth watching.

"..the (Utah) schedule is tough, just as utah
"fans" are constantly whining about..."

In truth, Utah
fans are ecstatic about the tough schedule. That is why for every season of
PAC-12 membership RES is sold out. (98+% renewal rate!) Someday I hope you
will experience the thrill of playing a schedule including teams like Oregon,
Stanford, USC, UCLA, Arizona State, Oregon State (all listed in the pre-season
top 25 list), Arizona, Washington State, Colorado, Michigan, Fresno State, and,
yes, Idaho State. (three of the latter were in the receiving votes for the top
25 also.) And then to do this year after year. Look ahead at how excited Y
fans are that in the next 5 or so years you will have Arizona, USC, and Stanford
come to Provo. Well, it will never get old for this Utah fan to have all the
PAC-12 teams come to RES at least once every two years! When Utah fans (in
general) talk about the difficulty of their schedule it is with pride and to
provide some background as to why we went from two undefeated seasons this past
10 years to losing seasons, so far, in the PAC-12.2014 - what a year for
football!

Fair enough Duckhunter. I don't think Fresno is a cake walk either.
Aren't they breaking in a new QB though. And the game is at RES. If Fresno
is projected to win their conference, then what does that say about Boise State?
They have kept a smoke screen record recently with their own bad schedule.
Houston was a barn burner last year but BYU still looked superior to them to me.
The game is in Provo this year. Now that QB could get hot. And BYU has
traditionally struggled with QBs that can stretch the field. That said, I think
BYU has a really good secondary for a change. Injuries were costly at that
position last year. To me the only challenging games on BYU's schedule the
whole year are Texas and USU. BYU has USU's number and Texas is in rebuild
mode. They are the one team that is physically superior to BYU on their schedule
but BYU will be fresh for them. Now if BYU played P5 teams week in and week out
then BYU would find out what TCU and Utah are experiencing right now. And that
is having a losing record.

To go bowling, Utah needs to beat Idaho State, Fresno State, Washington State,
Oregon State, and Colorado. That is 5 wins (Oregon State on the road is the
biggest iffy game with Sean Mannion). I think Utah gets these 5 games though.
From there Utah will need to win one more game unless they lose to Oregon State.
I like the opportunity to beat Arizona and USC at home. Winning both of those is
reaching somewhat. But I do see Utah getting 6 wins and I wouldn't be
shocked if they win 7 games (surprising someone along the way).

If Gionni Paul and Jacoby Hale recover healthwise then that would be a huge
boost to the defense. Utah's offense will be better this year. I think
Michigan is overrated and a possible win for Utah would be sweet. That game is
in Ann Arbor though. But with the schedule during the first month being lighter,
Utah could gain some confidence and momentum. The swag factor is huge. I look
for Utah to get that back this year. The chemistry is good and the depth is
better. Whitt can coach but he has his flaws like Bronco (choosing the right QB
has been a problem for both). If Wilson can stay healthy (I fear he won't
ala the repeated Wynn failure experiment), then Utah could start to roll with
Christensen.